Total begins production at Culzean North Sea gasfield

French multinational oil and gas giant Total has begun production from the $4-billion Culzean gasfield in the UK North Sea, over 10% below budget and ahead of schedule. 

The field, which lies 230 km east of Aberdeen, was discovered in 2008 and is expected to supply 5% of UK gas demand at peak. This brings the proportion of the country's gas demand supplied by Total to 18%.

The company has described the area around Culzean, which is estimated to contain the equivalent of 250m to 300m barrels of oil, as “one of the most promising exploration grounds in the North Sea basin”. The project includes the drilling of six wells, the construction of three bridge-linked platforms and of a 34,000 tonne floating storage vessel for "condensate" from the gas, as well as an offloading (FSO) unit. 

Gas from Culzean is to be fed into an existing pipeline to Teeside in the north of England. The condensate will be taken ashore by ships with heated storage tanks.

The acquisition of the gasfield was Moller-Maersk, a Danish conglomerate, was completed last year. The French company owns 49.99% of the Culzean field, BP has a 32% stake and Japan's JX Nippon owns 18.01%

“The Culzean project is delivered ahead of schedule and more than 10% below the initial budget, which represents capex savings of more than $500-million. This has been achieved thanks to the excellent performance of the project teams in charge of the construction and drilling operations,” said Arnaud Breuillac, President Exploration & Production at Total. “Culzean is a good example of our efforts to upgrade our portfolio in the North Sea over the last years, notably by bringing Total and Maersk Oil together.”

Total has also said it was investing in methods of carbon dioxide emission storage but the UK had already taken great strides towards cutting carbon emissions. This is why the company argues that the continued development of gas is "the ideal way" to provide affordable and reliable energy, whilst also cutting emissions.

Back to Homepage

Back to Energy & Utilities